South Carolina grapples with regulating a booming, unregulated psychoactive hemp market. Lawmakers aim to define limits for beverages, but a gummy ban sparks fierce debate.
Lawmakers at the state capital in Columbia are now debating whether and how to regulate psychoactive hemp-derived products. The market in the state is currently wide open, with no regulation or age restrictions on who can purchase such products. It generated $60 million in sales in South Carolina last year.
"This is too important to leave alone," said Sen. Michael Johnson (R‑York). "We have to regulate this, or we have to outlaw it. We cannot allow this to stay the way it is."
The Senate is taking up House Bill 3924, which cleared the lower chamber nearly a year ago. It would allow for hemp-derived THC beverage sales, but in its current form would ban gummies and other edibles. Amendments to allow those products are expected to be filed this week.
Under the bill, hemp-derived THC beverages would be folded into the alcohol regulatory framework. While liquor stores would be allowed to sell beverages with up to 10 milligrams of THC, convenience and grocery stores would be limited to selling 12-ounce cans containing no more than 5 milligrams. Buyers would have to be at least 21 years old.
The bill bans the sale of hemp beverages by restaurants and bars, bans synthesized cannabinoids such as delta-8 and delta-10 THC, as well as gummies and edibles.
The ban on gummies is drawing particular pushback, with senators in both parties saying they are common in the market and help veterans with PTSD. GOP leaders have said they would like to address the issue on the floor.
The national industry group, the US Hemp Roundtable, opposes the bill in its current form, saying it would force the closure of up to 1,800 small retail stores in the state. The Roundtable noted that the bill uses broad and idiosyncratic language banning any hemp products capable of producing a "psychoactive reaction," only providing an exception for hemp beverages.
Regulating—not prohibiting—sales of psychoactive hemp products would help get rid of irresponsible vendors, said one senator.
"That's why we need to act," said Sen. Deon Tedder (D‑Charleston). "There are bad actors in South Carolina, and regulating this would prohibit them from selling these products."
Stay tuned. This bill will get a Senate floor vote once debate ends this week.